Olympian Complex

The fast-moving hunks of metal flew past, skimming above the ground at lightning speeds, destroying all that got in their way, asserting their right to exist forcibly, starting and stopping according to rules which no man could fathom. Athena drew back from the wide pathway where they ran, stampeding through the large, busy forest of buildings. The noise overwhelmed her – loud piercing irritating noises, footsteps, speech from the hundreds of humans, air whooshing from the machines, overloading her senses until she could hardly tell sky from land.

“Athena. The light’s green.”

Why, so it was. Decidedly green. A tug on her hand, and she realized that Jared wanted her to cross the obvious barrier between the human portion of the road and that which belonged to the machines. Was he mad? She released his hand, drawing back from the deceptively peaceful machine-section, the machines before her purring softly as though to tempt her to step in front of them so they could run her over.

Jared sighed, displeased. “Athena. We have to cross the street. It’s safe, just hold my hand.”

Swallowing back her fears, Athena reached for his hand tentatively. If he wanted her to be gored, crushed beneath the horrific machines, then so be it. Sticking close to him, she hesitantly stepped down onto the roadway; she held her breath until she was safe on the other side, marvelling that she had survived intact.

Cities, she thought, were hazardous. She missed Pallas.